Running waters

Integral surveillance of running waters in
Switzerland

The water pollution control law of
24.1.1991 is based on the concept of comprehensive protection. To
effectively fulfill their numerous functions as habitats for
plants and animals and as objects of use for man, surface
waters (i.e. lakes, rivers, streams, etc.) must be protected not only
from pollutants, but also from all other negative influences.
In accordance with this goal, it is intended to carry out an
assessment of these functions and of the various pollutant sources in
the form of general surveys for cantons and regions, and, in
more depth, for individual rivers and streams or complete
river systems. The requirements for these surveys can be met
by a modular monitoring procedure. In this way, the measures
recommended in 1982 on the investigation of Swiss surface
waters will be considerably expanded.

Survey procedures are planned at
three intensity levels in the areas of
hydrology, ecomorphology, biology (banks and surrounding vegetation, higher
water and marsh plants, algae, makrozoobenthos,
fish), water chemistry and ecotoxicology. The multidisciplinary
approach will permit an integral assessment to be made of
running waters, and this in turn will enable insufficiencies to be
detected and measures to be developed. The various modules will
be described in separate publications. The present text
discusses the principal aspects of the modular procedure makes
reference to the legal basis, and discusses the aim and purpose
of the proposed compendium of methods.